Ștei
Ștei | |
|---|---|
|
Coat of arms | |
Location in Bihor County | |
Ștei Location in Romania | |
| Coordinates: 46°32′24″N 22°28′12″E / 46.54000°N 22.47000°E | |
| Country | Romania |
| County | Bihor |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2024–2028) | Iulian Balaj[2] (PNL) |
Area | 6.57 km2 (2.54 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 275 m (902 ft) |
| Population (2021-12-01)[1] | 6.371 |
| • Density | 0.970/km2 (2.51/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+02:00 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+03:00 (EEST) |
| Postal code | 415600 |
| Area code | (+40) 02 59 |
| Vehicle reg. | BH |
| Website | www |
Ștei (Hungarian: Vaskohsziklás) is a town in Bihor County, Crișana, Romania. Between 1958 and 1996, it was named Dr. Petru Groza, after the Romanian socialist leader who died in 1958.
Geography
The town is located in the southeastern part of the county, and lies on the banks of the river Crișul Negru. It has an average of 285 meters above sea level.[3]
With an average annual temperature of 9.8°C, the lowest recorded temperature is -24°C (18 January, 1963), highest is 38.5°C (2 August, 1961).[3][4]
History
The town was founded in 1952, by the Soviet occupiers near a village of the same name, as an industrial centre for the grinding of uranium mined at the nearby Băița mine, serving the intensive mining development set as an imperative by the Romanian Communist regime as part of a Soviet-Romanian joint venture during the Soviet occupation of Romania. Over 300,000 tons of ore was mined from the mine.[5]
The uranium reserves in the Apuseni Mountains were discovered by a Romanian geologist named Muntean who worked in the gold mines in Brad. Samples were taken and sent to a mineralogy lab in Cluj for analysis. Germans gained administration of this lab during World War II, and decided to build an access road to exploit the deposits. They were later forced to abandon the work due to events on the front forces.[6][7]
After the defeat of Germany, the Soviets possessed the information about the reserves. They decided to build a town in the village of Ștei, which had roughly five hundred inhabitants, near a railway which gave access to Bucharest. By 1956, they had managed to build numerous blocks of flats and barracks, an administrative palace, five cinemas, three dance floors, two schools, a sports base, a restaurant and some shops. Between 1952 and 1956, the town had a population of over 25,000 inhabitants.[6][7]
Ștei was designed in Moscow by a Russian architect, which is why its streets are unique to those in other towns of Romania, being long and parallel.[6]
Romulus Vereș, the notorious Romanian serial killer, was institutionalised in the Ștei psychiatric facility in 1976, and died there in 1993.
Population
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1880 | 377 | — |
| 1890 | 361 | −4.2% |
| 1900 | 417 | +15.5% |
| 1910 | 506 | +21.3% |
| 1920 | 504 | −0.4% |
| 1930 | 586 | +16.3% |
| 1941 | 545 | −7.0% |
| 1956 | 5,874 | +977.8% |
| 1966 | 5,754 | −2.0% |
| 1977 | 7,794 | +35.5% |
| 1992 | 10,415 | +33.6% |
| 2002 | 9,466 | −9.1% |
| 2011 | 6,144 | −35.1% |
| 2021 | 5,398 | −12.1% |
| Source: Census data | ||
At the census from 2011, there were 6,144 people living within the city; of those, 96.6% were ethnic Romanians, while 2.88% were ethnic Hungarians, and 0.5% others.[8] According to the 2021 census, Ștei has a population of 5,398, of which 87.87% were Romanians and 1.43% Hungarians.[9]
Natives
- Irina Bara, tennis player (born 1995)
- Camelia Adina Hora, singer (born 1986)
Sights
- Miron Pompiliu Memorial House
- Orthodox Church & the Monument of the Unknown Soldier
- The Cathedral
- The Bears' Cave
- The Ethnographic Museum at Butterflies[10]
References
- ^ "2021 Romanian census". National Institute of Statistics.
- ^ "Results of the 2024 local elections". Central Electoral Bureau. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
- ^ a b "România Geografică". România Geografică.
- ^ "About". Archived from the original on 14 March 2016.
- ^ Bonchiş, Claudia (20 June 2015). "How much uranium did the Russians extract from the Băiţa mine – the Cernavoda reactor would have worked for another 300 years".
- ^ a b c Bonchiş, Claudia (6 June 2015). "Ştei, the Bihor city dreamed of by the Germans and projected in Moscow - the hidden reason why the Germans and Russians set their eyes on the small settlement".
- ^ a b "History of Ștei". Archived from the original on 7 July 2016.
- ^ Romanian 2002 Census
- ^ "Populația rezidentă după grupa de vârstă, pe județe și municipii, orașe, comune, la 1 decembrie 2021" (in Romanian). INSSE. 31 May 2023.
- ^ "Tourist Attractions". Archived from the original on 14 March 2016.
Gallery
-
IMB Palace
-
Colegiul National Avram Iancu Stei - National College
-
Wooden church from 1847-1897. No longer around.
-
Minerul Stadium